Joseph, Prince de Caraman-Chimay

Who was Joseph, Prince de Caraman-Chimay?

Marie Joseph Anatole Élie de Riquet de Caraman, 19th Prince de Chimay, known as Joseph de Caraman-Chimay, the younger, was a Belgian aristocrat and fencer, a competitor in the individual épée event at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was titled "Prince de Chimay" from 1858 until his death in 1937.

He was born to Joseph de Riquet, Prince de Chimay and Prince de Caraman, and Marie Joséphine Anatole de Montesquiou-Fézensac. Named for its Belgian "château de Chimay", his family was noted for its patronage of music and the arts. One of his sisters was Élisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, the Countess Greffulhe.

On 19 May 1890 he married Clara Ward, a sixteen-year-old American heiress. The couple had two children:

⁕Marie Anatole Catherine Elisabeth, Comtesse de Caraman-Chimay, married Georges De Cocq in 1918

⁕Joseph Marie Pierre Anatole Alphonse de Riquet

They were divorced on 19 January 1897, after Clara's widely publicized elopement with a gypsy violinist. By a second marriage to Anne Marie Charlotte Amélie Gilone Le Veneur de Tillières on 24 June 1920, he had two more children: